Bee: Tales from the Underground
by StrangerinCommonGround
Summary: Flowey may be a monstrous, homicidal weed, but he is still a flower. Most bees would probably reject or avoid such flowers, and for good reason. This bee does not. This bee pursues it. This bee leaves a sting in the Tale.
1. Bee: Tales of the Underground

Legends say that those who climb Mt Ebott never return.

As years passed, the difference between legends and childhood rumours became unclear. Children always wondered why the mountain was off limits even to highly regarded documentary filmmakers. What was it about that mountain that scared grown-ups so much?

Regardless, for the most part, the stories were true. Once someone ventured inside the mountain that was it. They were gone. Some sought such a vague fate, perhaps not seeing any other way out of their drab or woeful lives, but only six ever dared to venture up the cursed peak.

This is not their story.

Forbidden as it may have been, the concept of rumours or unknowable fates was alien to the animals that lived around Mt Ebott. Some fell into the hole below. Some died. Toriel ensured that the survivors became livestock for the farmer monsters. (Not a popular trade.) One yak somehow ventured into King Asgore's castle. Its fate is a mystery to all but him.

This is the story of a bee who entered the Underground.

"Is this a joke?" Flowey asked, irritated. "Are you braindead? RUN. INTO. THE. BULLE-*hem* friendliness pellets." He prepared another batch of bullets and sent them soul-ward. Yet again, the impudent child sidestepped them.

" **You know what's going on here, don't you?"** he rasped, his smiling face contorting into that of a skull. **"You just wanted to see me suffer."**

Above the commotion, buzzing could be heard. The bee must have come from outside. The Surface. Perhaps there were some flowers growing in Mt Ebott, though it wouldn't explain why the hornet went to the trouble of descending into the Underground. Returning was probably above its abilities, disregarding the barrier in the way, rendering its search for more pollen useless. This never crossed the bee's mind. The buttercups it first found were rich in the powder.

Now it couldn't believe its luck. Following the sound of a grating, patronising voice, the bee found a talking flower! One that spewed pellets of pollen like bullets! Unfortunately (or not), it missed each pellet, not noticing it splat against the rock walls, eroding into them like acid. Now it had a circle of the pellets encircling a young human child. It decided to go for the big money.

" **DIE!"** the flower declared, laughing maniacally as the pellets closed in. In just a few seconds, the sucker would be go- "Bzzzzzzzz."

What was that? Buzzing? Bluh.

The pellets suddenly closed in.

"Bzzzzzzzz."

The pellets suddenly scattered everywhere.

"Ack! Gah! Grr! Get off, **get off!** " Flowey cried, ducking out of the bee's way, burying into the ground and forgetting all about the human child. He emerged for one of the bullets to skim his petal, causing tremendous pain. He writhed in agony, only to freeze as he noticed the stern face of Toriel stare at him. He didn't move for a full minute, only burying again when he heard the buzz.

"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth…"

The path built into the side of Mt Ebott confused anyone not in the know. As far as the politicians were concerned, the existence of the monster race was their burden to bear. Still, anyone who crossed that path found only the same rock surface that comprised the mountain. What was the point in the path? And why did they feel a sense of foreboding whenever they crossed it? It was joked that it should've been named Mt Enigma. (Nobody ever found this funny.)

For some reason, animals never saw the barrier. They were far from exempt from it, of course. Far too often was Asgore's day filled with the WHUMP sound of birds trying to fly into his castle. He considered buying a curtain with a rock pattern on it and draping it over the barrier just to stop them.

"Clever," Flowey sneered. "Verrrryyy clever. You think you're really smart, don't you?"

The human child said nothing, their face difficult to interpret.

"In this world, it's kill or be killed. So you were able to play by your own rules. You-"

"Bzzzzzzzz."

"Ack! Not again!" He immediately ploughed into the ground as the bee whizzed by. It examined the crack in the ground, readying itself to dive in before the soil filled it. It hung there for a second, before flying out the door. As the child prepared to do the same, they heard his voice. "We'll talk **later.** "


	2. Bee: Tales of Snowdin

SAVE points had been a mystery since they came into being. Little yellow sparkles that gave vague descriptions of the surroundings and the monster's current feelings, pointing out their lack of Determination. (Confusing most of them.) Perhaps this is how they discovered the concept of Determination. Regardless, to this day nobody's been able to accurately measure how much Determination animals contain. With some exceptions, it's generally believed that theirs is less than a human's, but are capable of developing it without mutations. Perhaps this theory can explain reincarnation.

The bee was an exception. Ever since encountering that talking flower, something changed inside its mind. All buttercup pollen it had accrued suddenly felt meaningless. Oh, how the queen would love to be given sentient pollen. And even if it would never find him again, it was probably stuck underground. The door to the Ruins had closed behind the human child. All it could do was go forth.

This was around the time it finally noticed a SAVE point. Something about that yellow sparkle drew it in. It didn't know or care what was so alluring about it. As it flew in, it saw… possibilities. Brief images of several outcomes. It saw the child reason their way out of danger, or simply slaughter everything in their path. It saw a skeleton boy unleash all in his power to slay the child, and the two working together along with other monsters to bring down a goat sorcerer. Then it saw hands, and a cracked mask.

The bee buzzed out of the SAVE point, shaken yet not really stirred. Things were different, without a doubt, though it was difficult to say exactly how. Perhaps events would now contradict. Perhaps the child would be both revered and feared in turn, or simultaneously. But in all honesty, it didn't care. It saw the flower just beyond Snowdin, and so it made its move.

"Bzzzzzzzz."

"SANS. HEY, SANS."

"what's up?"

"CAN YOU HEAR THAT?"

"hear what?"

"BUZZING. LIKE A FLY, BUT LOUDER." He got up and looked around, thinking he heard the buzzing above him.

"Bzzzzzzzzz."

"probably just a whimsun."

"OF COURSE! IT'S SO CLEAR NOW!" He cleared his throat and strode over to the door. "GOOD AFTERNOON, MR OR MISS WHIMSUN! AM I RIGHT TO ASSUME THAT YOU ARE CURRENTLY STAYING AS A GUEST IN OUR HOUSE? THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT, BUT WE... WE HAVE TO ASK YOU TO LEAVE! I OFFER MY APOLOGIES!"

Sans saw the bee far before Papyrus had even noticed the buzzing. There was definitely something unusual about it. It was hard to tell, but he felt like it wasn't confined to a single reality, or if it had any control over it. He gave it a shrug and a grin, in time for the clueless insect to disappear into run-throughs unknown.

There came a sudden knock at the door. A Whimsun stood outside. "Uhm, sorry, Mr Papyrus?" it said meekly. "I, uh, didn't ask to come in."

Papyrus looked at it in suspicion, narrowing his eyes, before suddenly smiling cheerfully. "WELL, FAIR ENOUGH. SORRY FOR TROUBLING YOU." With that, the door closed. "HEY! THE BUZZING STOPPED!"

"what buzzing?"


	3. Bee: Tales of Waterfall

The Waterfall area could be considered the jewel of the Underground. (Quite literally.) Few lived there, but those who did were most probably rich, so the rumours went. These monsters had obviously never met a Temmie before. Still, it was a nice place to live when one wanted to hide away from the world.

Perhaps Undyne wanted to live somewhere her fans didn't know much about. If that was true, she probably needed to consider moving. The Monster Kid had never actually knocked on her door or tried to draw her attention. (They needed hands for that.) Instead, they were content with simply observing her. Plus, on their way through the caves, they often eavesdropped on the Echo Flowers. A bit cheeky, they knew, but the echoes were always anonymous.

"Oh no, not you again!" one flower cried, using an annoying, childlike voice. "Get back! You have **NO** idea what I'm capable o-ow! **OW! DAMMIT! I AIN'T GIVING YOU MY POLLEN, SO F-"** The echo cut off. The Monster Kid nervously backed away.

Further down the path, the kid spotted a Royal Guard member out of uniform, reading a letter. Seeming excited, he approached an Echo Flower. "Bzzzzzzzzz, bzz bzz," the flower spoke. The guard, looking quite disappointed, dropped the letter and walked away, mumbling something about being let down. Curious, the kid quickly read the letter.

"Hey bro, I've got, like, something I wanna, like show you. Like, check the sixth Echo Flower in, like the Waterfall. You'll love it, bro.  
See ya 'round,

Number 01"

 _I wish you could save recordings in these flowers,_ the Monster Kid thought to themselves. _I wonder if flowers can save or load memories or anything._

The bee's fortunes changed. While flying through the Waterfall area, it saw a castle in the distance. Figuring in its little brain that was the way out, it started making a beeline, ("geddit?") for the castle. As it flew, everything briefly flashed yellow, and it found itself witnessing the human child confronting a woman in armour atop a wooden bridge.

"This isn't about monsters anymore, is it?" she hissed. "If you get past me, you'll..."

The bee noticed a Monster Kid hiding by a rock, watching the confrontation atop the bridge with terror and dread. There weren't any plants nearby, and it didn't know where the talking one had gone. He hated the child, for some reason. Had they done something to incur his wrath? If that were the case, they needed to be stopped. The talking flower needed to be protected.

"You're gonna have to try a little harder than THAT," the woman declared, assembling into more powerful armour, ready to strike down this superhuman child. Something about that kid scared the bee away from a direct confrontation. Instead, it flew to the rope pegs of the bridge. The only thing separating this one bee from the others, besides its unusual mind, was an unusually long sting. With that, it began to saw the rope.

The Monster Kid saw what was happening and gasped. "UNDYNE! RUN!" they cried.

Undyne, being the larger of the two fighters, sensed the shift in the bridge's stability first and quickly began to run towards the Monster Kid. The human child briefly wondered why the foul monster had begun fleeing. They started walking after her, but stopped when they saw the left rope peg snap. They gulped, just in time for the bee to cut the second rope peg. The child tried running, but the bridge fell just before they could reach the monsters. The human child was gone. The monsters were safe. The bee had vanished.

Undyne stared down into the abyss with the Monster Kid, panting in exhaustion and relief. She only wished she could've been directly responsible for that murderer's end. Oh well. "Well," she commented, "let's hope the River Person is unharmed, eh brat?" She patted the kid on their head and began heading into Hotland.

"You, um," the kid said on impulse, "You really kicked that human's grooty."


	4. Bee: Tales of Hotland

One of the benefits of an insect's diminutive size is the amount of openings it allows. Primarily, into Alphys' lab. (Asgore's castle is almost free of secret entrances for urban explorers of any species.) A benefit to entering such an entrance is how cool the lab is compared to Hotland. Once the bee found itself in this new, muggy reality, it dove straight into the first building it could see to cool down.

"A long time ago, I made a robot named Mettaton," the bee heard a tiny voice say. The room it had flown into was dark, but it was certain she was in another room. On it flew. Its journey came to an abrupt pause when it bumped into something metal. To recover from the daze, it rested on the metal surface.

"OKAY DARLING," a metallic voice whispered to themselves, so quiet only the bee could hear them, "YOU'VE GOT THIS. SCARE THE KID, LET ALPHYS KEEP THEM SAFE, GET REVENGE LATER." The bee began scurrying up the surface, barely able to see a gloved limb protruding from it. The limb suddenly flinched.

"But, umm," Dr Alphys assured the child, "hopefully we won't run into him!"

Silence ensued, as though she was waiting for something to happen. Three seconds passed, and metallic clanging filled the lab. Alphys muttered something in confusion. "Did you hear something?" Five metallic clangs later, she added "Oh no." Then, a bright light filled the room, before plunging the duo into darkness.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Mettaton cried, bursting out of the wall as the spotlight shot him into focus and the Game Show logo descended into view, bathing everyone in disco colours and cheesy music. "A BEE! A BEE! GET AWAY FROM MEEEEEE!" he continued, rolling around the room at random. Alphys and the child pressed themselves against the wall to keep safe. The lights returned to normal to show the computer on wheels swatting everywhere and clutching his "head" while the wheel just took him wherever it pleased. Alphys saw the bee fly out of the hole in the wall seconds later.

Mettaton stopped. "YOU RAT!" he cried, charging towards it. "YOU RUINED MY ENTRANCE!" The bee flew through an air vent back into Hotland, the robot breaking through the door to give pursuit. The lights returned to normal. The music stopped. The logo ascended.

"Would-would you, um," Alphys stammered, "like my phone number?"

The bee managed to elude Mettaton with ease, ducking into the pipes to avoid his wrath. Things were far muggier down here, so it kept going without rest. Whenever it encountered wires, it slashed them without slowing. It was going to find that talking flower soon. And if it saw that child again, it'd end their journey immediately.

"Th... the northern door will stay locked until you..." Alphys muttered into the phone, claws shaking uncontrollably. "I... I think you sh-should g-g-go to the..." She checked the camera feed. To her surprise, the door had opened just as the child entered the area, allowing them through without fuss. "H-huh?"

She watched them waltz straight into the next area. "D-Don't you wanna try the puzzles? I mean," her thumb accidentally hit the red button. The phone hung up. She sighed. "B-but, what happened?"

"GOOD EVENING, BEAUTIES AND GENTLEBEAUTIES." Mettaton called from above the wiring. The pipes had cooled down, so the bee took its time going along. It had flown through a small warehouse full of disguised bombs, including a sleeping dog. He had woken up and started yapping at it, but was completely ignored. He watched the bee fly on with a warped, narrow sense of Determination and went back to sleep.

Now all bombs had been deployed, none scratched by the sting. Instead, the bee was concentrating on a mess of wires, hacking away at two wires per second.

"BRAVE CORRESPONDENT! PLEASE FIND SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY TO REPORT!" Mettaton continued, tightening his dapper tie. "OUR TEN WONDERFUL VIEWERS ARE WAITING FOR YOU!" He and Alphys watched the screen as the child entered the area. "Pick the dog, pick the dog," Alphys whispered as they walked straight past, towards the force field. "They're not very patient, are they?" she added, before staring in shock as the child walked straight through, unimpeded by a force field. "Are you kidding me?" she said with a gasp.

Mettaton sat at his desk for ten seconds in total silence. "AND NOW FOR THE WEATHER WITH MUFFET," he said cheerfully.

She gave up. Alphys slumped in her desk, head folded in her arms. She surrendered. The child clearly didn't need her. Yes, her attempts at being needed by them were quite selfish, but... Who was she kidding? She _was_ being selfish. Slowly, she looked up, in time for the child to enter Muffet's domain.

Some time ago, she got into a spat with Muffet, and she bought a fly swatter as petty revenge. She came to her senses before ever using it, though she kept the chute leading directly into her house intact. Why not? They'd binged on Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 1 before, so this just made things easier.

This was when the bee returned. She noticed the hornet emerge from the shadows at the other end of the room, spot the child and begin charging towards them, with the obvious intention to sting them in the neck or something. She panicked, reflexively grabbing the swatter and hitting a button to deploy her into the chute.

Three seconds later, she fell from the ceiling, squatted in front of the child and swatted the air right in front of her, right paw hitting the floor for balance. The child watched in awe as the bee was sent flying into the cobwebs. "W-woah," they said to themselves.

Alphys got up and dusted herself off. "Are you okay, kid?"

They nodded, frozen in place.

"Holy cowbells, Alphys!" Muffet cried, "That was, that was amazing! Ufufu~"

"H-huh?" She looked at her swatter, the quickly hid it behind her back. "Muffet! Omigod, I'm sorry, didn't mean to-"

"Alphys, you just dropped out of the sky and saved that kid just like a hero! Dearie, I am in wonder. If it weren't for you, I doubt any of us could've saved them."

"You... you think so?" She began to blush. "Tha-thank you."

She placed a hand on Alphys' shoulder. "Now, how's about I bake you some spider donuts, on the house?"

Alphys began giggling to herself and walked with Muffet outside. The bee watched them leave, feeling the legs of several spiders examine it, ready to chomp it up. Then it disappeared in another flash of yellow.

"Y'know, Alphys," Muffet said wistfully, "I love what they did with Mew Mew's character arc in Mew Mew Kissy 2."

"Yeah," Alphys responded, the smile fading from her face.


	5. Bee: Tales of Conflict

The next room the bee found itself in filled it with homesickness. The golden hues reminded it of the royal amber of the hive. The silence reminded it of the queen's holy presence. The skeleton boy reminded it of that poor chap who destroyed its hive with a stick.

"heh, thought i'd be seeing you again," the skeleton muttered. The bee ignored him and started flying through the halls. "is this about that weird flower alphys created?"

The bee stopped and stared at the boy in surprise. Did he know where the flower was? It flew right up at his face, staring at it, wishing it could talk.

"looks like that determination did funny things to your head, buddy," he said casually, reaching into his pocket. The bee ignored him and aimed its sting face-ward, ready to dive. Just before it made contact, a bright light pierced its body, pinning what was left into a wall.

The skeleton watched as what was left of the body suddenly popped back up, good as new. It flew past a broken pillar to confront him again. Or try to, at least. "welp," the skeleton muttered to himself, "probably can't kill you without wrecking this place. do you, um, have a soul I can pulverise?"

The bee tried to sting him again, this time met with a simple sidestep. "listen, buddy, i'd love to have a warmup before taking care of things, but this really ain't costly." The bee hung in the air, attempting to understand what he was saying. "maybe we can fight in the waterfall or somethin'. your choice."

The bee finally ignored him and made for the exit. "alright, you chose," he called to it. "i don't think you'll find who you're looking for in this timeline, though."

A yellow flash engulfed the bee, and both vanished in half a second. A foreboding silence filled the air. "now that i think about it," Sans said to himself, "the way things are going, i don't think anyone's gonna miss this place."

Behind him, footsteps echoed.

"After all, I only have six souls," Flowey's voice boomed. "I still need one more…

"Before I become-"

"Bzzzzzz."

"Argh, what the hell?!" He growled. "Kid, just scram. Get lost. I'm sure you can save that stupid goat boy now if you wanna."

The child fled to the nearest SAVE point. Flowey stopped caring about what they were doing. He focused his attention on the bee. "This is between **YOU** and **ME,** you determined **FREAK!** "

The bee couldn't see anything beyond its own limbs. It felt confused and disorientated, but knew it was exactly where it needed to be. That was _his_ voice. It had finally found him. All was right in the world. As everything flashed red and the arboreal menace advanced towards it, the bee readied itself. Unbeknownst to either, the six souls vowed to themselves to help whoever was taking on their captor.

" **DIE!** "

The Photoshopped beast began  
With an onslaught of vines  
Each tendril with thorns  
Pollen bursting from his lines  
 **SAVE**

The bee dodged each creeper  
And avoided the fire  
When the sirens blared  
And something strange transpired

The knives all danced  
As Flowey's sick ploy.  
But became bandages of pollen  
Serving only to annoy

The heathen roared in anger  
And all the bombs dropped  
But came the sirens again  
Before the bee could be chopped

The fight had begun  
With a barrage of gloves  
But soon came the thumbs  
From the orange SOUL's love.

"What the hell are you doing?"  
The mutant plant cried  
The friendline-*hem* bullets failed  
Oh well, it thought. It tried

 **LOAD  
** The Photoshopped beast began  
With an onslaught of vines  
And then the siren screamed  
Like all the last times

The bee couldn't fly  
Skittering beneath the shoes  
But then came soothed music  
It had cured the blue SOUL's blues

The screen writhed and shrieked,  
"You shouldn't be alive!"  
Came the sirens yet again.  
"What is it **THIS** time?!"

The bee was restricted  
Hearing only fighting words  
Before support and encouragement  
Sang like surface songbirds

 **SAVE  
** He launched the spinning stars  
To every spot it had been  
 **LOAD**  
He launched the spinning stars  
Before the sirens called for green

This SOUL never tried to attack  
They acted on their own  
Launching health and pollen  
Ready to send it home

" **STOP IT! JUST GIVE UP!  
** This isn't even right!"  
Came the siren for yellow  
To signal the final fight

Bullets shot like flies  
When it dodged the guns  
And searched the four leaf clovers  
Not a speck. They weren't fun.

" **THAT'S ENOUGH!** "

Flowey seethed. It had thrown everything it had at the bee, and it was no worse for wear. Plus, he was pretty sure it had collected some pollen from him somehow. This shouldn't have been possible. It should be dead! And now, for whatever reason, it was glowing increasingly bright.

"What **are** you?" he asked quietly.

"Bzzzzzz," the bee seemed to reply, mixed in with the ethereal sounds of the glow. Was this the power of Determination? He squinted his eyes.

"Well," Flowey commented, "This oughta be _good._ "

The bee exploded and consumed the flower.


	6. Bee: Tales of Freedom

The barrier was gone. Everyone went with it. Shops closed down and only the fragments of a shattered man remained. The bee found itself at the bottom of the hole, where the story began. It rested in a buttercup flower, watching a goat boy stare at it, his finger slowly approaching.

"Hey," the boy said. "You've come a long way, haven't you?"

The bee didn't respond. For all intents and purposes, it was an average bee once more. Even its sting appeared to have shrunk to the average length.

Asriel got onto his knees. "I guess you're a shining example of the unpredictable nature of determination," he said with a laugh. "Actually, I don't think it was determination alone." He laughed. "You've been incredibly stubborn, I know that."

The bee didn't even flinch. He might as well have been speaking to an Echo Flower. He sighed and got back up, startling the bee into flight. The insect decided to fly back up the hole, having found the motivation from somewhere. Asriel was alone once more. Frisk paid a visit, which was nice of them, but now he was ready to face his fate, come-what-may.

"Heh, I wonder what flowers he was able to pollinate." He laughed to himself, before his laugh stopped suddenly, his eyes widened and the corners of his mouth dropped. He gulped. "He didn't pollinate _me,_ did he?"

When he started shopping, the honey tasted more or less the same. Sweet and creamy. Recently, though, Papyrus heard traces of his own voice in the honey. He swore he once heard the sentence "would undyne please visit the manager's office? i've got a bone to pick with her." Followed by laughter. But this new batch took the cake. He'd brought it home and spread it on his bread when he heard a new voice.

"Howdy! I'm Flowey. Flowey the honey."

He froze in shock, before shrugging and eating it anyway. "SANS!" he called. "HOW ABOUT WE GO BUY AS MUCH HONEY AS WE CAN FIND? WE CAN EITHER LOCK IT AWAY OR EAT IT ALL. WHAT DO YOU THINK?"

The End


End file.
